Wonderlanders
by Pandora's Teapot
Summary: Character/place study for Jefferson/Wonderland. Set before Grace is born when he is a world-jumping 'pirate' working for various people/lands. Ties in a fair bit with my previous story Tea For A Chipped Cup. This is from the perspective of the White Rabbit. I make it a rule to read stories by those who give reviews, so please review! Thanks!


Wonderlanders

By Pandora

In chains and awaiting the inevitability of my death, I am reminded of my favourite image of them. It was a time better than now, one I'd prefer to remember. I – the White Rabbit – am the oldest of us all. To me, the likes of Jefferson who so many here rightly respect as the greatest Wonderlander of all, are still so young and fresh to my ancient eyes. I have seen the best of this land, now I face its worst. But I face it with hope as I remember that image and those better times:

He looks at her with adoration, bright blue eyes shining beneath scruffy brown hair and filled with their usual mischief despite the coming storm. Decked in a golden-orange coat that tumbles to his knees, a patchwork waistcoat over a green linen tunic, and polka dot cravat, the Hatter is the very personification of Wonderland. Adorning his mop of tangles is his weapon, his crown: a black felt top hat, slightly too tall and awkwardly shaped at the peak, with an olive spider-silk scarf tied around it. The hat is his power, the tool that makes him a formidable Wonderlander. As he gazes at her with nothing but love, it is clear why he is her hope, her strength and her resolve.

Her part in Wonderland is more difficult, more permanent than his. Mounted on the back of the White Knight chess piece, her armour glistening and honey locks wild and untamed around her girlish face, it is hard to imagine her as either warrior or queen, but that is what she is. Though she would never see the throne, her time as a Wonderlander has weakened the iron grip of the Queen of Hearts, no more so than this moment as she rides into battle against the Jabberwocky. She came here in a blue dress with white petticoats, tumbling through a Rabbit Hole from her world, and left in the garb of a Wonderland pirate. Stripes and swirls of mismatching colours on puffy breeches always did suit her better than blue and white frills.

They are Jefferson and Alyce, outlaws and the true monarchs of Wonderland, and they could not be more different, and yet so much the same. There are many world-jumpers, but few Wonderlanders. Ah, I still remember the day Alyce caught sight of me and my pocket-watch tearing down the Rabbit Hole from her world. She followed me into Wonderland that first time and we landed together in the Hall of Doorways just as the Hatter was about to step through the Looking Glass. He stopped short at the sight of us, hopping on one foot as he shifted his balance out of the liquefying glass and back into the Hall. It was a futile manoeuvre, for he ended up in a heap on the floor staring in amazement at Alyce and I in a similar tumble. Jefferson was no stranger to me, in fact he and I had become the best of friends over our mutual addiction to Wonderlanding, and like most of the inhabitants of the world his charisma had an immediate effect on me. At first, all I could think to do was heave off the bothersome girl who had landed on top of me. But as soon as I had gathered my wits and realised that the pair were still on the ground, it was as clear as the Looking Glass itself that a spark had flickered between my young friend and the girl with the golden hair. Their eyes were fixed together, blue on green, and shy smiles danced back and forth as Jefferson clambered to his feet and offered his hand to help her up. That's how it began. From that moment on, Alyce was a Wonderlander.

That's the thing about Wonderland…it's addictive. Better than any drug in any world, it sends you to dizzying heights and leaves you craving more. When it begins, you're just a visitor for your your own pleasure, but world-jumpers – especially Wonderlanders – are very valuable. We run errands, collect information and retrieve treasures, do the bidding of whoever offers the highest price. We are pirates, and there are none as valuable as a Wonderlanding pirate. Jefferson and I, we have been to more worlds than I can remember; some good, some bad, some so unnoticeable that I am ashamed to admit how easily forgettable they have been. But time and again, the place we always return to is Wonderland…with all its perils and the ever-looming threat of driving you into madness. It's not easy to get in or out of here, but once you do it's even harder to stay away. Wonderland leaves its mark on those who drop by too frequently, tainting them with colour and quirk and all the delights on offer with the hard edged reality of cruelty draped in wonder. This place is a prison, a nightmare, unless you can keep your head…in the physical and psychological sense. More than even Jefferson or I, Alyce was made for Wonderland.

Wonderlanding is for dreamers, and Alyce is a dreamer. Forever lost in her own imagination and singing away her thoughts, she encompasses everything that Wonderland should be. In a world where everything is upside down, and inside out, those lost in daydreams tend to be the ones to make it out intact. Alyce took to it as though it Wonderland were tailored perfectly for her. To begin with, she used the Rabbit Hole, my portal into the Hall of Doorways. But soon enough, she began to travel with Jefferson in and out of worlds, working with him with as much precision, cunning and mischief as any pirate. The thrill of it took hold of her quickly, but her heart was fixed on Wonderlanding. It was mostly the intoxicating nature of the land. But circumstance played a role in her obsession. Though the Hatter has access to more lands than I, he is restricted by a simple rule: the same number in through a door must be the same number out. It meant that if Alyce wanted to go anywhere but Wonderland, she could never really travel alone at will. Though she could always access the Hall of Doorways via my Rabbit Hole, she could only enter her own land or Wonderland from there unless she was with Jefferson. It was no surprise that she visited Wonderland more than any of us. She revelled in its intrigues, and its dangers.

Wonderland is a deadly addiction. It has been taken, warped and twisted by the Cards on one side while tugged back and forth from the other by the White and Red monarchies. Once the Red Queen murdered her white sister, Wonderland was wedged between her and the Queen of Hearts, as vicious and self-serving as each other. But legend has always told of a saviour, a Warrior-Queen with golden hair and her magician King, the true rulers of Wonderland. It would be a lie for me to say that I didn't think it along with the rest of the land…Alyce and Jefferson were made to sit on the thrones of Wonderland.

But it was never to be. We pirates put ourselves in precarious positions at the best of times, but as Wonderlanders, we were cutting it fine every single time. That is why it is no surprise to me that we are where we are now. Too many times we crossed the Queen of Hearts doing what we did for her enemy monarchs of other lands, and eventually it caught up with us. It was Jefferson that the Queen wanted first and foremost, but as soon as she discovered that the infamous Hatter of Wonderland had married the pirate Alyce, her target changed. The Queen of Hearts knows legend well and hears the whispers in her kingdom of the Warrior Queen and Magician King.

We were given up by another Wonderlander - the Cheshire Cat. Alyce was captured coming through the Rabbit Hole and it didn't take much demonstrative _persuasion_ from the Queen to convince Jefferson to give himself up not long after. Before he went to the Castle of Cards, he told me their secret: soon, Alyce would have their child, and he would get her out of Wonderland or die trying. Jefferson had only ever used the Rabbit Hole once before, but I offered it to him again. There was no other way out of Wonderland for Alyce and the infant, only he could pass back through the Looking Glass now. He embraced me before he left, and as I watched Jefferson walk away towards the Castle of Cards, I felt as though I was losing a brother.

It was only a matter of time before they caught me too, the Rabbit Hole was my only way in or out of Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts has decided to punish Jefferson and I at the same time, only he is still of value to her so long as he possesses the hat that she so desperately wants. So it is me who has been sentenced to death. Last night, the Ace of Spades informed Jefferson that the Queen of Hearts had a task for him, and we were led away in opposite directions. I thought I'd never see him again.

But I see him now. Dressed all in black, tall and overwhelming despite the kindness of his tear filled eyes. The merry expression that I thought forever plastered across his face whether rain, hail or shine is gone, darkened and tainted by what he has been asked, no forced, to do if he is to save the life of Alyce and their unborn child. He didn't know who the prisoner would be any more than I knew who the executioner was. They walked him out onto her checked killing floor and put an axe in his hands, and now our eyes are locked in mutual disbelief and horror. He doesn't look like the Hatter I want to remember, but he is that same man in his heart, I know.

"Off with his head," the Queen of Hearts rasps. Jefferson hesitates, frozen to the spot. It was always the risk we took as Wonderlanders, and if I am to die it seems fitting that it should be here, this way, for this purpose. I am an old Rabbit, I have seen so many things and my time has come. But I am not leaving without a legacy, no. When I die, the Rabbit Hole will cease to work and there will be no way out of Wonderland except for the Looking Glass. The Queen of Hearts knows this, she has planned it this way so that she can keep the child-Queen that grows inside Alyce. What she doesn't know is that I left my pocket-watch and a tuft of enchanted fur from my tail in the Hall of Doorways, and Jefferson knows as well as I do that it will be just enough magic for one more journey through the Rabbit Hole. Just as I had promised.

I give my friend and brother, my fellow Wonderlander, a simple nod and a sad smile. A moment passes between us, we know it must be done and that it is the price we always wagered. The only hope now is that by some miracle, some…grace, the child-Queen can be rescued from Wonderland until she old enough to return and free it from tyranny. I want Alyce to live. I want Jefferson to survive this. But I know it is unlikely that both of them will. One thing is for certain, this is the end for me. I close my eyes and I hear Jefferson let out one deep sob as he raises the axe.

"Death is just another world to explore, my dear boy," I whisper to him, and I feel him smile though my eyes are tightly shut. It is warm and bright, and it doesn't matter that they are making him kill me, we are bonded. We are Wonderlanding. We are Wonderlanders. I don't even hear him swing.


End file.
